Microsoft Response Point is phone system software designed for small businesses with 1 to 50 employees. The intuitive management programs, voice-activated user interface, and rich feature set make Response Point easy to configure, manage, and use. D-Link, Syspine, and Aastra offer complete systems that are bundled in affordable starter packages.

Microsoft Response Point 1.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) introduces new-and-improved features that expand your voice service options, empower the administrator to better manage the system, and enhance the phone system experience for everyday users and callers.

In Service Pack 1, Response Point is equipped with a VoIP gateway that allows you to set up cost-saving VoIP service, offered through Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs). With VoIP service, you can configure direct-dial numbers so that your business can have multiple phone numbers, without the hassle and cost of setting up new analog phone lines. Configure VoIP service, analog service, or a combination of both voice services – in SP1, the choice is now yours.

Response Point Administrator gives you more control over how you manage the system. In this service pack, you can monitor and analyze call activity; upgrade phones and phone line adapters when the hardware manufacturer releases the latest firmware; customize answers to questions that callers frequently ask the Automated Receptionist; restrict access on phones in common areas; and play music for callers waiting in park.

Response Point Assistant improves the overall experience for everyday users and callers. In this service pack, you can click-to-call contacts with just two mouse-clicks; specify the most cost-effective voice service for your contacts; and view in-call and parked-call status, so that you can see whether other users are on or off the phone, and whether any parked calls are waiting to be retrieved.

Today Microsoft released the second Community Technology Preview of Windows Embedded Standard to their testers. The CTP Refresh of Windows Embedded Standard has an improved setup experience and migration support from previous versions of Windows XP Embedded. Additionally, it now includes .NET 3.5, additional device drivers, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) Client Prereq Macro, and various other updates based on direct customer feedback.

In addition, Microsoft also released a CTP of Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP Embedded. This is a rollup of hot fixes and security updates Microsoft has released since the RTM of Service Pack 2. SP3 also includes select out-of-band features and enhancements. SP3 provides a new baseline for customers deploying Windows XP Embedded.

Sign up for the Windows Embedded CTP here: https://connect.microsoft.com/windowsembedded

Microsoft released the Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 yesterday.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 delivers:

• Improved WPF designers
• SQL Server 2008 support
• ADO.NET Entity Designer
• Visual Basic and Visual C++ components and tools (including an MFC-based Office 2007 style ‘Ribbon’)
• Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server (TFS) addresses customer feedback on version control usability and performance, email integration with work item tracking and full support for hosting on SQL Server 2008
• Richer JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools, and Web site deployment improvements

The complete release notes can be seen here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/cc533447.aspx

Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions Beta enables organizations to achieve service level goals and gain visibility across their cross-platform environments, including Unix and Linux operating systems as well as Microsoft platforms. With centralized management and monitoring of the IT infrastructure, organizations can maximize uptime and performance while reaping the efficiencies of a single monitoring solution rather than disparate tools for each environment.

Cross Platform Extensions Beta extends the monitoring and management capabilities of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 to non-Microsoft platforms, including HP-UX®, Sun Solaris™, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, and SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server environments.

The package includes:

• Setup Documentation and Whitepapers
• Operations Manager installer files
• Unix Agent installer files

New in this beta:

• Operations Manager x64 support
• Gateway role support
• IBM AIX 5.3

Already one month has passed since Microsoft announced “Zermatt”, nevertheless I am writing a few words about it now.

What is “Zermatt”?
The Microsoft Code Name “Zermatt” is a framework targeted for .Net developers to help them to build claims-aware applications to address today’s application security requirements using a simplified model that is open and extensible and can improve security. Developers can build externalized authentication capabilities for their applications and build custom “identity providers”, often referred to as Security Token Services (STS). Zermatt can be used in any web application or web service that uses the .NET Framework version 3.5.

Major Features

• Building claims-aware applications: The framework makes it easier to build identity aware applications. In addition to providing a new claims model, it provides applications with a rich set of API’s to reason about the identity of a caller using claims. The framework also provides developers with a consistent programming experience whether they choose to build their applications in ASP.NET or in WCF environments.
• Building Security Token Services (STS): The framework makes it substantially easier for building a custom security token service (STS) that supports the WS-Trust protocol. These STS’s are also referred to as an Active STS. In addition, the framework also provides support for building STS’s that support WS-Federation to enable web browser clients. These STS’s are also referred to as a Passive STS.
• Creating Information Cards
• ASP.NET Controls: ASP.NET controls simplify development of ASP.NET pages for building claims-aware Web applications, as well as Passive STS’s.

As an application developer, by building claims-aware web applications and services, you’ll spend less time worrying about where to find identity attributes for users and have more time to focus on building a great application that solves real business problems. By relying on claims, you’ll be able to personalize your applications more effectively, and implement important security features such as authorization and auditing, without baking one particular authentication method into your application, or writing queries against a corporate directory. By centralizing identity management in this fashion, the IT pros can build the most efficient possible queries against their directories and give your application the identity details that it needs about users. And becoming claims-aware means you’ll be in much better shape when you’re asked to implement single sign on and perhaps even identity federation. Zermatt is a framework for building claims-aware web applications and services, and even issuing authorities, should you need to roll your own. Or better yet, buy a pre-built authority like the upcoming version of ADFS. Claims-based identity is the wave of the future. Get on board with Zermatt today!

A newer version of the Zermatt/Geneva SDK has been released. Read this post for more information and download links.

Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit allows migrating and consolidating older file servers to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase the efficiency of storage management and backup tasks. It covers two main features:

• File Server Migration Wizard which copy shared folders, files, and their security settings from a source file server to a target file server.
• DFS consolidation root wizard which maintain the original Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of files after they are migrated to a new server.

This release of Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit adds support for migrating and consolidating servers running Windows Server 2008. No new features have been added in this release.

Microsoft is currently working on a new Feature Pack called Windows Feature Pack for Storage. Unlike the Feature Pack for Wireless or the Media Center TV Pack this Feature Pack is not Vista-only. It is available for: Windows Vista, Server 2008, XP SP2+ & Server 2003 SP1+.

Whats new?

• Active Storage Platform: Enables the Windows platform to restrict access to portable devices (such as a USB Flash Device) via a certificate or password authentication based on the IEEE 1667 standard specification.
• Image Mastering API update for Blu-Ray media: This feature enables the Windows platform to do master style optical burning on Blu-Ray media.
• Smart Card Driver: This provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID.

You can join the beta on Microsoft Connect via this link:
https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=434

The .NET Micro Framework is a .NET platform for extremely resource-constrained devices. It includes a small version of the .NET CLR and supports development in C# and debugging (in an emulator or on hardware), both using Microsoft Visual Studio. It also features a subset of the .NET base class libraries (about 70 classes with about 420 methods), a GUI framework loosely based on Windows Presentation Foundation, and additional libraries specific to embedded applications.

The .NET Micro Framework aims to make embedded development easier, faster, and less expensive by giving embedded developers access to the modern technologies and tools used by desktop application developers. Additionally, it allows desktop .NET developers to use their skills in the embedded world, enlarging the pool of qualified embedded developers.

Changes in version 3.0:

• Visual Studio 2008 now supported: .NET Micro Framework V3.0 now runs under Visual Studio 2008. Additionally, .NET Micro Framework V2.5 projects can also be built using VS 2008 and the .NET Micro Framework V3.0.
• DPWS CodeGen tools: The .NET Micro Framework v3.0 now includes a tool, MFSvcUtil.Exe that can be used to generate .NET Micro Framework DPWS client proxies and DPWS Service stubs from WSDL files.
• USB Device support: In addition to allowing debugging over USB, hardware running the .NET Micro Framework 3.0 can now act as USB devices using the Microsoft.SPOT.Hardware.UsbClient namespace.
• Stylus/Touch Panel support: Using touchscreen-enabled hardware, or the new touchscreen emulator, you can create code that reacts when UI elements are pressed, captures “ink” for signatures or jotted notes, or handles gestures for UI navigation. You can access this functionality through Microsoft.SPOT.Touch, Microsoft.SPOT.Ink, and new extensions to the Microsoft.SPOT.Presentation namespaces.
• Secure Sockets support: The .NET Micro Framework v3.0 now supports Secure Sockets Layer (*SSL) networking for secure communications.

A newer version of the .NET Micro Framework SDK has been released. Read this post for more information and download links.

Yesterday the Microsoft Expression Media Team released the first Milestone of their new Expression Media version to the TAP Testers. Not much has changed at this stage, only some bugs were fixed and the Team begun working on the new Features planned for the Service Pack 1. The version number of this Milestone is 2.0.1584.0; there will be at least two more Milestones up to the final release during the next weeks/months.

Here are the planned features for the Service Pack 1:

• Hierarchical Keywords: Remove child node when removing parent, improve relationship between hierarchical keywords and flat list keywords, Improve parent/child drag behaviors.
• Geo-tagging/Virtual Earth: Add drag and drop capabilities within the Virtual Earth window, display keywords when dragging image onto VE window, Make the GPS annotation fields user editable, Sniff GPS locations from URL, handle more lat and long coordinate formats, add lat and long tags to HTML galleries.
• Raw Image support: The Windows version now has a preference that allows the user to choose if Windows Imaging Component (WIC) is used for raw image. You may find changing this option improves the color or speeds up the display.
• Info Panel: Template event date not being saved correctly, author details not being displayed correctly, NEF import not displaying annotated date.
• Catalog Editing: Improve user messages when unable to complete request, support long paths and long file names when resetting paths, do not revert to 8.3 filename when media is offline, do not create unexpected duplicates, allow user to configure default open location, show full path in catalog finder.
• Import: Add support for large files in HTML galleries (16000×8000 image), improve rendering performance of NEF files, display EXIF data for ARW files, increase media import limit from the Windows Explorer right-click menu, read color profiles on import, fix issues related to import from camera disk.
• Light Table: Fix multi-item drawing issue, change behavior of delete button, fix position of magnifier pointer, resolve keyboard shortcut issues, improve user experience when switching between full screen and windowed mode.
• In application help: More than 50 updates to help contents.

I hope this release is useful for you, but remember this is a pre-release version, it can damage your catalog files or cause any other issues. Do not use it in a production environment. As soon as there is a new version out, I will make it available here.